Maya Gleipnir (A Different Path)
Maya Gleipnir, otherwise known by her alter ego Arius Magress, the “'One Man Army'” was formerly a member of the Imperial Guard, the youngest ever, and Budo's second in command. She was born in the Imperial Capital with a promising future ahead of her due to her quick learning and impressive combat skills at a young age of only fourteen. Her dream finally became real when Great General Budo himself enlisted her within the Imperial Guard after reviewing her scores and took her in as his own personal student, training her in the art of warfare and combat for two years. Her entire life came crashing down however when her parents, her father a high-ranking member of the Imperial Army, refused to give in to the Prime Minister’s influence and, as a result, they were wrongly tried, imprisoned and eventually executed. Enraged with how deep the corruption ran within the Empire she swore to protect, she went on a merciless rampage and killed the Imperial Guards protecting the Imperial Vault, where inactive Teigu were stored. There she stole the armor-type Teigu Unholy God Eater: Imperator and met the Mechanical-type Teigu named King of Kings: Excalibur, who pledged to join her as a companion and help her bring down the corrupt Empire. When they duo escape from the Imperial Capital, with her old life and dream shattered and a traitor to the Empire, she became one with the darkness inside of her and crafted the persona of Arius Magress, the One Many Army that would destroy anyone in his path so to eventually get her revenge and kill those responsible for her parents’ death. She and Excalibur proceed to wage war against the Empire every chance they got for several years until they come across the Jaegers and Night Raid, whom Maya learns from Excalibur that two of the Jaegers are the wielders of Imperator's cousins, Grand Chariot and Incursio. Her interest rises to a point that she and Excalibur thwart and attempt to kill the two groups by Dreivas and the Inquisitor, and as soon as they retreat Maya challenges Tatsumi and Wave, the wielders of Tyrant's other armors, to a duel that quickly turns to a fight to the death between her and Tatsumi when Wave ends up getting incapacitated. She and Tatsumi battle one another with their power seemingly matched, but when he manages to crack and break off a portion of Imperator's helmet and reveal a portion of Maya's face, she asks of the Jaeger what sort of tragedy has he encountered to make him want to fight the Empire. After learning from him the deaths of his friends, she informs him of her past and proceeds to activate Imperator's Trump card that increases her power tenfold. The two fighters then proceed to hammer away at one another, further inflicting grievous injuries to one another, while Maya continues to ask of Tatsumi the reason for taking on the world's most powerful army and country. With barely enough strength to keep himself standing, she learns from Tatsumi that Esdeath is his wife and that they have a daughter waiting for them in the Eastern Nation, and that he's fighting to take down the Empire in order to create a place where she could grow up without fear or worry like they had under the reign of Prime Minister Honest. Seeing that even when presented with odds so stacked against him, he would continue to fight for his ideals with unwavering determination, she ends the fight herself and makes Tatsumi the winner. She stays with the two groups alongside Excalibur until they are tracked down by Jacqueline, the Inquisitor and Dreivas, where after they split up she challenges the Great General and is surprisingly beaten by her once she survives a fatal blow. She later wakes up after getting knocked out and continues to travel with them until they are once again attacked by the Inquisitor and Dreivas, however once Excalibur, now revealed as Arthur Pendragon, the true First Emperor, deals the killing blow to his old friend, takes on the fight against the Inquisitor. Once he is killed and put to rest at the behest of Arthur, she and the rest of the Jaegers and Night Raid arrived in the Western Nations, where they are taken by a spy to the cave of a benevolent Danger Beast named Kaminari where the remainder of the Western nations' government and military resides in. After everyone leaves to enjoy their newfound free time in their own way, Maya is invited by Esdeath to join her and Tatsumi in going down to a hot spring and given a spare bikini set the former General had. Once dressed she heads down with Esdeath to the hot spring where they wait for Tatsumi to arrive, and once all three of them are soaking in the steaming water she is told by Esdeath to lighten up a little and relax for once. She takes her advice and stops trying to hide her body from view, since this was the first time she had ever been in a situation like this with others around her, and after a few minutes she gets up to leave and thanks the two of them. Appearance Maya is a beautiful and slender woman of average height with long lavender colored hair and a voluptuous figure. She wears a revealing sleeveless skin-tight, backless top with two lapels on the front and back, a mesh bottom and an obi around her waist. She also wore stockings that functioned as her shoes and a pair of lavender colored arm warmers that extended out over the back of her hand to wrap around the middle finger of each hand. Upon activating her Teigu, she is covered head to toe in large black and purple armor that increases her height to around 6’5” and masks her identity as a female due to its masculine build. Although it appears heavy, the armor itself is actually very lightweight but highly durable, enabling her to quickly move around the battlefield and catch her opponents off guard. Upon activating Imperator's fake Trump Card, the armor grows a pair of large purple wings from its back to give her the ability of flight, and when she uses her armor's true Trump Card the armor takes on a much darker appearance and it literally secretes an aura of blackish purple energy. Personality Originally a kind and optimistic person, after her parents’ wrongful execution she became a cold-hearted, almost cruel individual who cared not for the well being of others, her only desire being to enact revenge on the ones responsible. After meeting Night Raid and the Jaegers and seeing that their goals were the same as hers, she joined the ranks of Night Raid since an opening had been created after the death of Susanoo. She preferred to keep her distance from everyone, the only one who would talk and share time with her being Excalibur, since he had been with her the longest. Equipment / Skills Maya, even before she was the wielder of Imperator, was an exceptionally powerful fighter that showcased skills far beyond those ever seen before, scoring higher then men several years older then her when she participated in the tests required to be enlisted into the Imperial Military. And upon being seen by Budo, she becomes his personal student, learning all of his techniques and the art of war from the Great General, solidifying her position as his second command at age 16. When she secured Imperator and bonded with the Teigu, every time she activated the armor her height increased dramatically to a towering 6'5" and her power grew exponentially, Imperaot giving her super-human strength, speed, and reflexes. And when coupled with the rage and anger she held towards the Empire, more specifically the Prime Minister, for murdering her parents, her power grows in response to her emotions and seemingly gives her a bottomless reserve to draw upon as shown with her fight against Tatsumi and Wave. Gallery